Federal authorities arrested a 35-year-old former Marine and Republican write-in congressional candidate in Jacksonville, Florida, this week after he posted a video to his campaign account on X declaring that President Donald J. Trump "must be killed." William L. Upham now faces up to five years in federal prison on a charge of threatening the President of the United States.
Upham appeared in federal court in Jacksonville on Thursday, where a judge ordered him detained pending further proceedings. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announced the charge, filed through the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida.
The case centers on a nearly seven-minute video Upham posted to his own campaign account on X. In it, he wore his Marine uniform, quoted his officer's oath to defend the Constitution "against all enemies, foreign and domestic," and then made clear he believed those enemies included "the enemies here at home", meaning the sitting president. As Breitbart reported, Upham called Trump "the Antichrist" and "a false messiah" before stating flatly that Trump "must be killed."
He closed the video by saying Trump "will be killed and sent to hell."
The social media posts were not isolated outbursts. Fox News reported that Upham posted multiple videos urging violence against Trump, including one in which he gave specific tactical instructions, telling viewers to use an AR-15 and shoot the "enemy" with "two shots to the chest" and "one shot to the head." He also emailed a reporter stating he made the videos "to declare war against President Trump on behalf of God" and that he would "kill President Trump at the time that God chooses."
Those details move the case well beyond the realm of heated political rhetoric. Specific instructions on weaponry and method, combined with a written declaration of intent sent directly to a journalist, paint a picture of deliberate escalation, not a momentary lapse in judgment.
The threats come at a time when security failures surrounding the president remain a live concern for millions of Americans. Two assassination attempts against Trump during the 2024 campaign season left the country shaken. Threats of this specificity carry weight that no responsible authority can afford to dismiss.
The Marine Corps moved quickly to distance itself from its former officer. The service confirmed that Upham had been medically discharged on May 30, 2025, more than a year before the threatening videos surfaced.
In a statement posted to X, the Marine Corps said Upham's words represented "a direct violation of the oath he swore to uphold" and were "not in keeping with the service's values." The Washington Examiner noted that the arrest came just two days after the Marine Corps publicly disavowed Upham.
Fox News also reported that the Acting Navy Secretary weighed in and the U.S. Secret Service acknowledged the matter. The speed of the institutional response suggests federal law enforcement and military leadership treated the threat as credible from the outset.
Upham had positioned himself as a Republican challenger to Rep. John Rutherford in Florida's 5th Congressional District. He qualified as a write-in candidate ahead of the state's August 18 Republican primary, with the general election set for November 3. Whether his candidacy status is formally affected by his arrest and detention remains unclear.
Threatening the President of the United States is a federal crime. If convicted, Upham faces up to five years in federal prison. The Department of Justice press release from the Middle District of Florida confirmed the charge.
No attorney for Upham has been publicly identified, and no statement from his legal counsel appeared in any available reporting. Whether he intends to mount a defense based on free speech, mental health, or some other grounds is unknown at this point.
The nature of Upham's medical discharge from the Marine Corps has not been publicly detailed. That gap matters. A medical discharge can cover a wide range of conditions, and the specifics may become relevant as the case proceeds. What is known is that Upham left the Marines in May 2025 and, roughly a year later, was posting videos in uniform calling for the president's death.
The broader context is hard to ignore. Threat levels against public officials have risen sharply in recent years, a reality acknowledged by figures across the political spectrum. When a former military officer with tactical training publicly instructs viewers on how to shoot a target and then names the president as that target, the threat is not abstract.
Upham's case is not the first time a political figure or aspiring candidate has crossed the line from opposition into criminal conduct. But the specificity of his statements, naming the weapon, describing the method, emailing a reporter to confirm his intent, sets this apart from the usual category of unhinged social media rants.
The federal charge against Upham sends a necessary signal. Political speech in America is broad and protected. Threatening to kill the president is not political speech. It is a federal crime, and the law draws that line for a reason.
Upham invoked his oath to the Constitution as justification for his threats. The Marine Corps saw it differently, and so did a federal judge who ordered him held without release. The oath he cited obligates service members to defend the constitutional order, not to appoint themselves executioners of elected leaders they oppose.
The DOJ's swift action in this case is welcome. Federal prosecutors filed charges the day after Upham's arrest, and a judge detained him immediately. That is how the system should work when someone with military training publicly declares his intention to kill the commander in chief.
Whether Upham acted out of genuine delusion, calculated provocation, or something else entirely, the legal system will sort out. What matters now is that the threat was taken seriously, the man is in custody, and the law was enforced without hesitation.
When a former officer puts on the uniform, looks into a camera, and tells the country the president must die, the only acceptable answer is a pair of handcuffs and a courtroom, and that is exactly what happened.
